Copycat
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: Across time, across dimensions, there were apparently some constants.


**Copycat**

It had been years since Princess Blaze had last come to Darkhaven.

Technically only a few years, but for her, that might as well have been a lifetime. At times, it felt like time itself had stopped, that she was forever stuck in this phase of her life. That no matter how many adventures she had, time itself had been frozen – that she was living in what an author would call a floating timeline. She was still the princess, and never the queen. She was still the guardian, never the mentor. She was still suck in this eternal cycle of thwarting Eggman Nega's plans, and whatever other drudges slunk up to threaten her world. It was small comfort to know that the other world she had visited a few times seemed to be stuck in the same loop. Only while Sonic had a whole assortment of animal friends to count on, she had only a few, only one of which was in this world.

She didn't know what Marine was doing right now. Something about boats, steam, and pirates. Presumably there was buried treasure somewhere at the end of that endeavour, but if so, it was outside her realm of interest. No. She had come to Darkhaven again. She would keep coming until circumstance or desire dictated otherwise.

She walked up the dock to the walls of the fortress. It had been built for earlier times, before the coming of a scientist that could tear the walls down with one of his machines as easily as a child might knock down a tower of building blocks. Still, Eggman Nega had never found this place. No enemy of her kingdom had, and even if they had, being a fortress surrounded by nothing but ocean for miles, it was hard to say which was more impossible – besieging the fortress, or escaping it. Even Blaze, for all her speed, knew that if she lost her boat, she'd be stuck here until another one came along. Which might give her an excuse to see Marine again, but still, there were some secrets that remained between them. That Blaze the Cat knew a place like Darkhaven existed was a secret she was quite intent on keeping for as long as possible. After all, what friendship survived without secrets being kept?

"Princess Blaze."

No secrets between her and Athenae she reflected, walking up the dock to meet the fortress's jailer.

"Athenae."

But then, she and the owl before her weren't friends. Princesses didn't have many friends, and as far as Blaze could tell, queens had even fewer.

"Are you here to see the Lost One again?"

More reason to not become 'queen?' Maybe. She nodded regardless.

"Is it through hope or spite you visit?"

"I don't have spite Athenae."

"Then you are either wise beyond your years, or as naive as the squirrel that follows you around half the time." Athenae turned and headed for the fortress door, hobbling along on her staff.

"Raccoon."

Athenae looked around. "What?"

"Raccoon," Blaze said. "Marine is a raccoon."

"Ah, so some titles you do care for," Athenae said "At least when they suit you."

Blaze narrowed her gaze. "Is there something you wish to say?"

"Nothing at all," Athenae said, turning round once more to unlock the fortress gate. "I mean, I could mention how often you pop into the other world. I could mention that the company you keep is most unbecoming. I could even mention that the Lost One is beyond your aid, and you would do well to heed my advice and have it destroyed." The key turned, and the gates opened. "But no. There's nothing I want to say."

Blaze kept her gaze downward as she entered the fortress courtyard. Heading into the gatehouse, she took a single torch.

"You know the way of course," Athenae said.

"I do."

"Good. Because one Lost One is enough to deal with. I would hate for you to be lost as well."

 _Provided I am not lost already._

Not Blaze's thoughts in of themselves, but rather a recognition of what Athenae was thinking. What many were thinking. She ruled over a world of millions, so if nothing else, statistics demanded that at least someone should be unhappy with her rule. Regardless, she walked to the passage that would take her to the depths of the fortress. With her first step, she entered the gloom. After the second, as she waved her hand over the torch, the gloom receded, and she walked through the light.

 _The heck am I doing here?_

In theory, Eggman Nega could be launching an assault right now. In theory, a jewel thief could have stolen the Sol Emeralds. In theory, a portal between worlds could have opened up, prompting her to save the day as she always did. Of the three, the third was the most appealing…for reasons that had nothing to do with beings on the other side of that portal. How tragic was it, that she could connect more with those of a world that wasn't her own? Indeed, if not for the ways of this world, would she have any reason to visit that which Athenae called the Lost One? If her life had been different, would she have even ordered it be spared?

She didn't know. Either way, she'd come to the Lost One's cell. Taking a breath, she pressed a button on the wall, and the steel door slid up. In the past, wood had been enough to contain those who called Darkhaven home. This cell had been specifically retrofitted for the Lost One. Athenae had complained. The few guards that had stayed here all these years were torn between getting paid to watch over one prisoner, and being repulsed at the type of prisoner the Lost One was. No guards down here anymore, Blaze reflected. Even if the Lost One broke the titanium chains that bound it, even if it somehow broke down the cell door, it wouldn't have enough energy to do anything else.

"Hello," Blaze said.

There was no answer. She mounted the torch on the wall and took a step forward. The light only extended so far, and the Lost One remained in the gloom.

"Me again. Know it's been a long time."

The Lost One said nothing.

"Believe me, that I come to you for some form of comfort is a tragedy not lost on me. Still, I wonder if even now, you could understand. Whether you could change."

The Lost One said nothing.

"Are you even awake?"

The Lost One said nothing.

"Are you alive?"

The Lost One said nothing.

Blaze said nothing as well. She just took a step forward. And on cue, two amber lights appeared in the gloom before her. Eyes. Eyes that had opened. Eyes that could see her. Like the eyes of the ghost, only the Lost One was far more real, and far more dangerous. So when it lunged for Blaze like it always did, when it let out the cry of one defeated yet not dead, the princess and guardian of the world fought the urge to recoil.

She feared Eggman Nega – she would have been a fool not to. But the Lost One, even now, came the closest to terrifying her.

"Real…" the Lost One whispered.

For what was more terrifying than seeing yourself reduced to this?

"Still going on about that?" Blaze asked. "You, being the real Blaze?"

"Real…" the Lost One whispered.

"Yes, you are real. But not me."

"You…meant to defeat you. Kill you. Burn you."

"Yes, I know." Blaze sighed. "I'm sure Eggman Nega intended that when he made you. I'm sure that's why he called you Steel Blaze."

The Lost One said nothing. It just stood there, kept in place by its chains. Staring at its doppelganger. Staring at the one that had defeated it, and not granted it the mercy of death.

"Do you remember?" Blaze whispered. "Are your memory banks still operating?"

The Lost One said nothing.

 _Figures._

Blaze remembered. She remembered the coming of the Incredible Planet to her world. She remembered Eggman Nega going after the Time Rocks, and how, as always, she had rushed out to find him. How she'd come to Ether Lake, entered the planet itself, and found a world where time was as flexible as string. How Eggman Nega had revealed his "greatest creation" – a robotic doppelganger of the one that had always defeated him. A cat of steel, painted red (apparently lavender wasn't threatening enough), with glowing amber eyes. A being of superior strength, superior speed, and enough napalm to burn down a forest.

At the time, Blaze had laughed – even more of a rarity then then it was now. But then the great chase had begun – a chase across the planet, a chase through time, a chase where she realized she wasn't in a dog eat dog world, but a dog eat cat world, with no prizes for guessing which was which. Only at Starlight Speedway had it come to an end. Only then had she defeated Steel Blaze, despite being bloodied and bruised in the process. After all that, she'd managed to defeat Eggman Nega, free Incredible Planet, and return to the surface of her world.

Steel Blaze had returned as well – if by "returned," one meant falling through the sky to land on the ground, barely operable. Despite her exhaustion, Blaze had taken it. Entrusted it to Athenae on Darkhaven. Chances were that Eggman Nega would try such a thing again, and it stood to reason that she might be able to learn something about his plans from their harbinger.

"Real…" the Lost One whispered.

But he hadn't. The Eggman of Sonic's world had apparently gone for the robotic duplicate thing over and over. For whatever reason, the Eggman of her world hadn't. Steel Blaze had been left here, kept operable via a battery pack that would keep it alive (if such a word could be used), and little else. Eggman Nega kept coming. Robotic duplicates of her hadn't. Over time, as Steel Blaze began to degrade, Athenae had coined the term "Lost One," perhaps as a way to sway Blaze to her belief that the machine should just be scrapped. And while she hadn't reached that stage yet, the name had stuck.

"I wonder," Blaze said. "Is it fate that you're here? That I'm here?"

The Lost One didn't say anything.

"I've been to a world beyond this one more than once," Blaze said. She began to pace around. "More times than I care to admit actually – the people of your world don't like it when you appear to favour another. And yet, I've…" She paused – saying "made friends" didn't have the effect she was going for. "I've learned things. For instance, there's two individuals in this world who might be said to be counterparts of myself. One a hero. One a guardian." She stopped, looking at the Lost One. "Hero. After all these years, I've never considered myself that. No-one has."

"No hero…" the Lost One rasped.

"I know," Blaze said, frowning as she began to pace around again. "Doing one's duty doesn't make you a hero, it just makes you the right person for the job." She looked at the Lost One. "But what does that make you, I wonder? Because there's one like you in that world. One that came at his doppelganger again and again, before slipping into the insanity of 'the real.'" She paused. "Perhaps it's fate that you're here. That you're like this. That one way or another, you would always come to believe yourself the real Blaze-"

"I am the real Blaze!" the Lost One yelled. It struggled to break free from its chains, with the fury of the underworld, and the desperation of one trapped within it. "I am Steel Blaze! I am the real Blaze! I am…I am…"

"Running low on juice," Blaze said.

The Lost One slumped down. The battery pack in the corner was attached to it through a series of cables that might as well be chains, for all the effect they had.

"If this is fate…" Blaze began. "I must ask what happens next? Do you return to being my enemy, and a slave of Eggman Nega? Or does something different happen for you? For me?"

The Lost One's eyes flickered.

"Do you know?" Blaze whispered. "Or are you just some robotic duplicate with a CPU standing in for a soul? Some…copycat?"

"Real," the Lost One whispered. "Real."

Blaze sighed. "Do you have anything left to say? Anything to impart? Anything at all?"

"Real. Real. Real."

"Anything?" She lit fire within her hand.

"Real. Real. Re…re…"

She didn't throw the fire. There was no need. The Lost One slumped down again, and the light from its eyes faded. Technically in power saving mode. Blaze thought of it like a sleep – Eggman Nega had indicated that some of his robots dreamt.

Blaze dreamt as well. Usually they involved her falling or drowning.

"I may see you again," Blaze said. "I may not."

The Lost One said nothing.

"Farwell, then."

The Lost One said nothing. Sighing, Blaze headed for the door.

"Real…" the Lost One whispered.

She froze in place.

"Real…"

She headed out of the cell, the door hissing shut.

"Real…"

And headed back out into the sunlight.


End file.
